Black Dream
by Yemi Hikari
Summary: Allura watches Keith fall apart after Shiro's disappearance, and Kolivan suggests a reason why the black paladin disappeared.


_Disclaimer – I don't own Voltron: Legendary Defender. This is written for prompt 22 of my 2017 prompt list, which involves writing a story of the Angst genre. This ties into my other one-shot White Nightmare, hence the name, but can also stand on its own, particularly since I can go another route with Shiro than I did in White Nightmare._

 **Black Dream**

Shiro was gone.

Every single member of the castle's crew felt numb as they attempted to process the empty seat. Allura could see from her position Pidge, who looked like she was about to burst into tears. After a few seconds, she realized Keith was standing next to her, and Allura turned her head. She turned to see the red and blue paladins. Lance seemed calm despite the shock, yet something was seriously wrong with Keith.

His eyes as he looked at the empty seat were filled with pain. The look reminded her of the pain in his eyes when she sought to reject him for his Galra heritage. She wanted to reach out to him, to comfort him, and yet remembered his discomfort at being touched. An ache filled her heart, realizing one of the few people Keith was comfortable around had just disappeared. Saying something in front of everyone seemed inappropriate.

Coran found a way to break the silence. "I'll start running some diagnostics."

Pidge startled, a few tears falling from her eyes. "I'll help."

Turning her head, she caught the sight of a few tears falling from Pidge's eyes, and felt her mouth pushing together. Hunk looked her in the eye, his lip trembling, before heading off to cook something. This left her with the red and blue paladins. She turned in time to see Lance swallow, unsure at all how to react. Keith remained frozen, his entire body tensed up.

"Lance, could you give us a moment?"

"Sure." The blue paladin slipped out, glancing back. Allura noticed the hint of jealousy, only for said emotion to be outweighed by worry.

She then turned to the red paladin. "Keith…"

"Not dead. Not dead." The panic was evident in his voice. "He can't be."

Allura attempted to reach out to him, only for the red paladin to quickly turn and run in the same manner he'd run towards the black lion. The princess spun on her heels, running after him, watching him head to towards the hanger of the red lion, following him into the robotic beast. She watched him take a seat, and leaned over "Keith! Stop!"

"I can't." Keith's voice remained shaky.

"You can't run away from this."

"I'm not."

Allura still felt the red lion surge forward, taking off from the lion. For a moment she thought of ordering the hanger doors closed, but instead kept her mouth closed. She watched as open space appeared, and Keith's hands move the controls, the creature diving and swerving through nothingness. The princess closed her eyes, feeling the inertia, not sure what was going on. Eventually, after some time Keith stopped, his entire body shaking, his hands trembling. "Keith…"

The two said nothing, but instead, he brought the red lion in without asking.

Gently, she placed a hand on his shoulder, causing him to turn his head slightly. "Have you calmed down?"

"For now." The sound of his voice was numb.

"How you had this much energy, I don't know." Allura watched Keith carefully, noticing the green pallor spreading across his face. "What…"

"I'm going to be sick."

Allura tensed up as the red paladin pushed past her, his movement giving every indication he was going to throw up. The princess turned, following after him. She stepped off just in time to see his legs buckle so that he collapsed to the ground. He attempted to hold himself up as he vomited onto the floor. The princess swallowed, before calling out. "Someone! Help!"

The blood in her body froze, watching Keith's body spasm, his mental state having fallen into unconsciousness. She waited, hoping someone would come. The sound of footsteps jolted her head up, and she opened her mouth to say something, only to stop upon seeing Kolivan approaching. She swallowed, her fingers tightening around Keith's arm protectively. "Princess?"

She felt tears well in her eyes. "Please…"

The person stepped forward, stooping down to one leg, turning his head towards Keith. "The boy has a stubborn streak to him, doesn't he?" She watched as Kolivan gently lifted him up into his arms. "Care to show me where his quarters are?" Allura swallowed, before standing up, letting the Galra follow her, glancing back every so often to see that Keith was still breathing. She then watched as Kolivan set Keith down, and he pulled back. "Something's happened. Care to elaborate?"

"Shiro disappeared. We got to the cockpit, and he wasn't there." Allura swallowed. "That doesn't, I guess explain why Keith did something as stupid as this."

"Actually, it does. When the boy took the trial, it was the black paladin who appeared in front of him. As I told Shiro then, it was what the red paladin most desired. It was also what he most feared."

"I am not following."

"When he's in trouble, the person he seeks to rescue him is Shiro. What he fears most is losing the person who is like a brother to him." Kolivan turned to look at her. "Exactly how much do you understand regarding their relationship."

Allura felt numb. "I…" The princess swallowed. "I honestly didn't think about it. The only time I've seen those two treat each other differently than they do the other paladins was right before Keith left with Hunk to retrieve scaultrite from the Weblum." Her hand lifted up so her fingers touched her lips. "Not good."

"What isn't?"

"I think the only one who might be able to figure out what's wrong with Keith is actually Shiro."

"Perhaps the question we should be asking is what's wrong with Shiro?"

Allura felt her throat tighten, and she turned to Kolivan. "While I _don't_ think all Galra are bad anymore, I believe you're out of line."

"Am I?" The man looked her right in the eye. "What is the purpose of the black paladin?"

"To be the leader of Voltron."

"That's not what I meant."

"Then what did you mean?"

"What was the black paladin's purpose for existing?"

"To defeat Zarkon."

"And what purpose does he have now?" Kolivan continued. "What purpose do any of them have?"

"I guess they'll return to their old lives, though for Pidge and Keith, I guess they'll try to find their families."

"But what was Shiro's purpose before?"

"He was a space explorer."

Kolivan side. "Hypothetically speaking here, what if a person's purpose was to fill the void another person had, to be the center of the universe for that person? What if say that person though managed to find the piece that was missing from that void, but their center of the universe no longer revolved around that one person?"

Allura took a deep breath. "What are you saying?"

"That perhaps the reason the black paladin is lost is because he needs to find his purpose again." Kolivan turned, leaving the room.

Allura gently sat on the edge of the bed near Keith, who remained unconscious. She leaned over, placing a light kiss on the red paladin's forehead. "I'll do what I can to make things okay, and find Shiro for you. In the meantime, rest up. I'll have Hunk bring you something to eat in a bit."


End file.
